Structural facilitators of targeted tie formation in organizational social networks

I present the first detailed empirical investigation of how preexisting social network structure influences the success of top management in promoting new work relationships between employees. I conducted longitudinal field studies to obtain network change objectives and data on actual network changes from an informatics division and from a law firm, respectively. Using the strength of new tics formed as my dependent variable, I examine four conjectures regarding the interaction between planned changed environments and four particular social network contexts. I hypothesize that the promotion of specific new ties by change agents will be most successful I) when new ties meet the conditions of reciprocity, 2) when new ties increase net transitive balance, 3) when new ties connect actors to alters of higher network status, and 4) when new ties connect actors to alters who are structurally equivalent to themselves. My research findings vary greatly from firm to firm. The informatics division data indicate a strong and consistent response to the targeting of network dyads during organizational change and to the interaction of that targeting with pre-existing network structures. For the law firm, this targeting has much less of an effect. Where significant effects appear in my models, my hypotheses regarding pre-reciprocity and status tend to be confirmed. Significant effects associated with structural equivalence tend to be disconfirming of the associated hypothesis. I examine differences between these two firms that likely contributed to the observed differences in the results. Furthermore I provide insight regarding distinctions between professional cultures that may be critical in accurately interpreting the influence of pre-existing network structure on the success of planned network change.